Colored lightning
by Violets in Shadow
Summary: A new friend, hardly an abnormal happening. Seryis is. Is she not telling them everthing?
1. Flashes of color

Hey, my first alien force fanfic. Hope ypu love it!

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"Who'd you call?" Asked a very curious Ben Tennyson. His cousin, Gwen, had just randomly sped off to the kitchen, and dialed a number on the phone.

"Just Kevin," answered Gwen, angling around the couch to where her laptop lay on the coffee table "I've got this theory I need his help with." She settled herself onto the couch, sinking into it's cushions, while pulling her laptop up to her lap.

"Where'd you get his number?" Ben asked teasingly, leaning forwards in his chair. Gwen shot him a don't-start-with-me look and he turned away, grinning. Gwen was the closest thing to a sister he would ever have, and he loved teasing her.

Ben let out a little laugh, to soft for Gwen to hear, then switched on the T.V.

"A natural phenomenon has occurred today." Began a blonde news caster, leaning on his desk. His hair was overly fluffy, he wore a blue suit, and he talked too happily. Newscasters were always easy to hate.

"Right ,Bill, the lightning." Added a brunette female newscaster sitting next to the blonde one. She had on a navy blazer and too much makeup. Again, so easy to hate. But, the comment she had said way too cheery, had gotten Ben's attention.

"Technicolor lightning was plainly seen today, by most of the state." continued the blonde, with a little chuckle. Ben glanced out he window, and sure enough bolts of lightning were flashing behind the snow. They were all colored, all the colors of the rainbow were present.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before in recorded history. No science can fully explain it, though they are pretty certain it's the moisture in the air, refracting the white light of the lightning." added the brunette. Ben glanced over to Gwen, and she was absorbed in her computer, like always.

Suddenly, he remembered that summer they spent as ten-year-olds, fighting aliens and touring the country with Grandpa Max. The smile faded. They had just come to know that grandpa Max was in the Null void, cleaning up after Dr. Animo, or D'void as he wanted to be called.

Ben leaned back in his chair, and pondered about what had been happening more recently, completely tuning out he newscasters story on water proof paper.

It was the week before Christmas, and all was normal. He was a little bummed alien activity had been nonexistent, but at least it offered some peace. _You'd think the DNAleins would be active, with all the snow_, He thought, more than a little suspicious. It had been snowing a lot, like that night, for instance, along with the lightning.

He opened his mouth to ask his mom what was for dinner, but stopped himself. Gwen and Ben's parents were at a family reunion they'd begged to be left out of. So they had left him at Gwen's house. They didn't enjoy their parent's cousins, and certainly didn't want their second cousins driving them insane, like last time. Ben shivered at the memory_._

_So much pasta salad in my hair_, he began to think while rubbing his head.

Suddenly, a loud crack broke Bens thoughts, and made Gwen jump.

"Door's broken!" a familiar voice shouted down the hall. _Kevin's here_, thought Ben to himself. Sure enough, out of the shadowy hall came an equally shadowy Kevin. He had a dark look about him. But, with jet black hair and a dark shirt, that wasn't all to hard.

"Kevin!" yelled an annoyed Gwen, splitting it into two distinct syllables. She had a death-glare that would make a grown man break down and tell everything he knew, but Kevin completely ignored it. _Amazing, _thought Ben.

"What'd you need?" he asked in his usual deep voice, stopping in the middle of the room. Before Gwen could answer, Ben cut in. He had a feeling Gwen needed to cool off.

"Did you see the lightning?" asked Ben, less cheery than the newscaster, but still pretty upbeat.

Before Kevin could say he had, an earth-shaking boom rattled the furniture, and knocked Kevin over

"What the," he began from the ground, but cut off. Gwen ran past him straight for the window, her red hair streaming behind her. She peered out it, and a startled looked crossed her face. Her green eyes glared at Ben, signaling for him to come look. He walked over quickly, stopping to help Kevin up. When he reached the window, he looked out.

At first he didn't see much, as the clouds were blocking the moon and the snow made a kind of fog. But, as he focused in a little more, the colorful lightning giving light, he made out a dark mass lying in the snow of the front yard. The falling snow seemed to be landing on it with no heat problem, and that couldn't be good. No heat meant falling body temperature, if it was alive.

"What is it?" asked Gwen, sounding very concerned. She put her hand up to the window, made a fist, placed it against the glass and made three small, rapid circles to wipe away the condensation from her breath.

"Only one way to find out." Kevin answered. He walked back to the hallway he came out of, returning with a shiney leather jacket slung over his shoulder. Ben already had his signature number ten jacket on, so he immediately began walk to the door. He turned around, to see Gwen zipping up a red sweater-jacket.

As soon as Ben opened the door halfway, he was blasted with face-full of snow. He heard Kevin snicker, but brushed it off without a word. He and Kevin pushed into the howling winds, clearly struggling. Gwen however, made a shield of energy, and was walking through without a problem.

"Unfair advantage!" Ben heard Kevin complain over the snow. Ben could barely make out Gwen's shrug, before he fell forwards when the pressure of the wind was suddenly gone. He landed face-first in the snow. He looked over to see Kevin shaking snow off the shoulders of his leather jacket, stareing at the wall of bright pink-purple energy in front of them.

"Yeah, now you choose to do that." I heard him again complain. Gwen walked over and brushed a few lingering flakes off his hair.

"I didn't have to help, you know," that quickly brought a smile to the teen's face. _That_ smile, Gwen warmly returned.

"_Focus_!" Ben yelled, clearly annoyed at the waste of time. _Whatever it is could freeze_, he thought. That snapped them back to reality. Gwen held up her hands, and pushed the shield forwards, until it guarded the whole yard. Ben didn't see the shape, but instead saw a slightly raised place in the snow, lit by the glow of Gwen's shield and the lightning. He raced towards it, shuffling in the snow.

When he came to it, he wildly dug his hands into it, pushing snow behind him.

"Hey, watch it!" he heard Kevin mumble as he began to help Ben dig. Ben glance over to see water dripping from his hair and face.

_Ha_, Ben thought, but quickly focused on digging again. He finally hit something about six inches under. It was _skin_. He continued to push the snow away, to reveal a girl. She apparently had fallen into the snow, and passed out. No time to look at her much. The light from the lightning had stopped.

"We have to get her inside!" he yelled. About a split second later, the shield shrunk at little, and a ribbon of Gwen's energy wrapped around the girl's shoulders. It lifted her up and she hovered right in front of Gwen who began to walk towards the house. Ben and Kevin scrambled after her, not wanting to be out without a shield.

_Who is this girl?_ Ben thought as he ran through the door, clearly baffled.


	2. The pull of static

1The pull of Static

There was something about this girl that wasn't normal.

Ben was leaning forwards in his chair, hands supporting his chin. He was stareing at the girl who was lying on the couch opposite him, dripping wet. She looked about their age, and there was just something about her, something abnormal he couldn't put his finger on. It surprisingly wasn't the way she was dressed, although that did puzzle him. She was clearly not dressed for winter weather.

She was wearing a knee-length fluttery-hemmed, light purple skirt. Her shirt was empire-waisted and flowy , with thin, lacy sleeves that hooked on her thumb, and covered half her hand and palm. It was also the same color, and he found that a bit fishy. Her entire outfit was also covered in the same, strange faded swirling patterns starting at the bottoms, that continually faded upward into solid light purple on the top of her skirt and shirt, also up her sleeves. She wasn't wearing any shoes, but she was wearing a necklace. It was a crystal, sun-shaped pendant suspended on a gold chain.

Right as he focused his attention on her face, Gwen walked in looking panic-stricken. She covered the girl with a red fleece blanket, not getting any reaction from her. Ben had taken her pulse when they brought her in, and she was breathing normally, but she still looked grave. He, once again, focused on her face. Her lips were blue, and chapped. She had pale skin, and her hair was peculiar. It was shoulder length, light, chestnut brown, wavy and layered. She had a streak of bright white on the right side, starting at her hair part, and ending on one of the layers surrounding her face at chin-level.

Ben looked away to find Kevin, who was standing in the middle of the living room. Suddenly, all the light bulbs exploded with a deafening crack, and the shatter of broken glass. Gwen ran for the emergency flashlight, and ran straight into Kevin, who was pulling a mini-flash light out of his pocket. She bounced off him, and landed with a thud. Ben bolted upright out of his chair, and ran over to them. Kevin clicked on the mini-flashlight-keychain and shined it at Gwen, who was on the floor.

"Need help?" he asked, mildly mocking. He extended his hand, and she took it, giving his an arm a jerking tug. The little beam of the flashlight went flying around the room, and landed on the molding at the bottom of the wall, streaking across the wood floor.

_He dropped it, _thought Ben amused, his foot hitting a plastic box under his chair. He bent down, hearing a few muttered words coming from Gwen and Kevin's direction, and felt under the chair. His hand landed on the object, finding a big, block flashlight. He lifted it out, and flipped on the switch. He then aimed the large beam at Gwen and Kevin, sitting side by side on the floor.

"Very mature." Ben added smugly to the scene. Gwen and Kevin both glared daggers at him, but he just grinned. He then turned the beam at the girl, laying in the same position she had started in.

"Lets go to my house, I've still got light there." Ben stated, dropping the grin and turning the flashlight back on Gwen and Kevin. They both nodded, and got up simultaneously.

Kevin walked over to the still sleeping girl. He picked her up bridal style, her head leaning in against his arm, and headed for the hallway while stubbing his toe on the coffee table. He almost dropped her, but regained composure as he waited for Gwen and Ben. They were standing behind him smirking.

"Don't start." he stated, razors in his voice.

"I should bring some warmer clothes for her first, she'll need some." said Gwen as she walked up the staircase, and turned into her room. Ben and Kevin waited in silence and darkness, Kevin growing more impatient by the second. He felt like his arms were about to fall off. She finally appeared after several minutes carrying a sky blue messenger bag over one shoulder. It looked full.

"We look about the same size, or close enough." she added as she walked past Kevin to take the lead. Ben held up the flashlight to let her see as he walked. She headed for the back door, leading to the driveway, where Kevin would've parked his green sports car. She nearly strangled Kevin when she saw the giant, gaping hole in the wooden door, letting snow on the welcome mat.

"Really, why?" she asked insanely annoyed. He just smirked. She moaned, angry and stomped through. Ben opened it, to make it big enough for Kevin to go through without causing the girl head injuries. Then Ben followed, and slid in the backseat of Kevin's car. Then Kevin walked up, surrounded by falling snow, and looked down at him sternly.

"Move." he ordered, very impatient. Ben was confused for a little, then jumped out of the car, getting the idea. Kevin leaned forward, and slid the girl into the seat on the far side, leaning her head against the window. After Kevin clicked the girl's seat belt in, he climbed into the drivers seat. Ben, once again, slid into the backseat. They drove for a good twenty minutes on the salted roads, the salt crackling under the tires.

"Why didn't we call the hospital?" asked Gwen, suddenly dumbfounded. _Why didn't we? _Ben thought silently, a puzzled look sliding over his face.

"It didn't seem like a good idea, for some reason." answered Kevin, his eyes never leaving the road. It _hadn't_ seemed like a good idea. It had seemed out of the question to them, and it still did. That really confused them. Normally they would have called an ambulance, but something told them not to.

Ben glanced at the girl, and she seemed unmoved by the bumps in the road. Her hair hadn't even moved out of place. It was like she was statically charged, stuck to her center, unable to break the pull of the static.

"You noticed that she was, well, not normal?" asked Ben from the back seat, taking his eyes off the girl and looking at Gwen.

"What was your first clue?" asked Kevin sarcastically. Glancing back at Ben, then at the road again.

"No, I mean really different, like, I don't know," Ben began to fish in his mind for the words.

"Abnormal." finished Gwen "It's really weird." she added. _So, it's not just me, _thought Ben as they pulled into his driveway.


	3. Speed dial number three

**Hey! like the title of the chapter, cause I do!**

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A loud wail interrupted the silence of girl looked around frantically, only seeing very faintly.

She was lying on a soft thing, she didn't know what it was, in the middle of a dark room, covered in piece of soft, green fabric. She heard footsteps, and mutters in the distance. Then the lights snapped on, almost blinding her. She continued to scream, but stopped cold when something grabbed her shoulder.

She gasped and whipped her head around to see a girl, with bright red hair and green eyes, stareing at her. Behind her were two boys, one a relatively short Brunette wearing a green jacket with a stripe on the right side with a number ten on it, and the other tall, with longer black hair and a black shirt. They both looked equally concerned, but more confused than the girl, and stareing at her.

She looked around at where she was. She was surrounded by cream colored walls, and furniture. To her right was a doorway leading what she guessed was the kitchen. It opened up on the other side to another room, then to some other hallways. There was a door behind her, and its own little area made by corners, like the walls had been removed.

"Are you alright?" asked the Red haired girl looked panicked, not taking a hand off her shoulder. The other girl shook her head slowly, choking on her breath.

"No, I'm not! No, No," ranted the girl between sobs. The tears started coming, and they just kept on.

"Calm down, it's okay," the red-haired girl knelt down by the soft thing, and started to try and comfort her. The tall boy shot a look at the smaller one that pretty much said _what do we do?_ The smaller gave an _I don't know_ gesture.

"No, she's, she's," the girl ranted on, apparently hysterical. She gripped her head with her hands, and pulled her knees up to her chest, sort of curled up, rocking back and forth.

"Calm down, your safe." Gwen knew just what to say as she stroked the girls back. This girl seemed afraid of someone, and Gwen knew she would be safe here. _She's surrounded by alien-powered teenagers, how much safer could she be? _Thought Gwen, still shocked by the girl's sudden awakening. Gwen felt a sharp _zap_ on her hand, and lifted her hand quickly. She returned her hand to the girls back, blaming static electricity on the zap.

The girl began to calm, and regain sense. She straightened out her legs a little, took her hands off her head and turned to the people.

"Where am I?" she asked, still sounding panicked.

(Insert break here)

"You're in my house." Ben answered the girl. _Seems kind of a random answer, _Ben thought to himself. The girl was breathing hard, eyes wide as they would go. He noticed that her eyes were dusty blue, with brownish yellow around the center. Although they were darker and dusty colored, they were oddly bright, like they glowed.

He, Gwen and Kevin had been in Ben's room, researching missing persons reports on the internet. Ben nearly had a panic attack when they heard the girl scream in the other room.

"Where are you from?" Kevin questioned, arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the wall behind Ben, amazingly sounding sympathetic. Both Gwen and Ben's eyebrows shot up. Kevin, sympathetic? It confused them.

"Doesn't matter now." the girls breathing leveled out, as she drew her knees up to her head, and rested her chin on them, her hair falling a little forward "I can't go back, not ever."

For some reason, Ben didn't want to know why she couldn't go back. He would have normally been curious about this girls home, but it seemed obvious she had no home. Ben walked over and sank into the chair opposite the couch. Ben and Gwen's parents arranged furniture in the same way. He always hated that. Gwen walked forward from her place next to the couch, towards the opposite end.

"What's your name?" asked Gwen taking a seat on the other couch cushion.

"Seryis." she replied softly.

"Serious?" asked Ben, confusing the name, as he leaned forward in his chair. His earlier labeling of the girl "abnormal," had been reenforced. Kevin elbowed him hard in the arm, basically telling him to shut up.

"OW!" Ben glared at Kevin, who shook his head lightly in return.

"No, your mixing up the vowels," Seryis corrected him, her gazed locked on her feet under the blanket "SER- not like in answer, stress the e-Y, like the way the letter E sounds in the alphabet, and IS, like in miss."

_Wow,_ thought Ben as he rubbed his arm.

"Are you hungry or thirsty?" asked Gwen, happy the girl was calm again.

"I'm... cold." Seryis said, a little questioning. She gripped her elbows and began to shiver. A knowing look crept into Gwen's eyes, and she got up and gripped the strap of the over-night bag, her red hair falling past her face. She lifted it up put it over her shoulder.

"You should change into these." Gwen held out her hand for Seryis to take. Seryis gripped it hard, and let herself be pulled up by Gwen. Gwen led her to the other hallways, and into the guest bedroom. She laid out he clothes she had brought for the girl, and left her in peace. She turned around, and walked back to the boys, each looking no less confused.

"Well," began Kevin "that was weird." he pushed off the wall, and took a seat in the other chair. Gwen angled around the couch, and sat on the side opposite the empty green fleece blanket they had found the closet.

"I didn't expect her up until morning." added Gwen, crossing her arms.

"What was the, the "she" Seryis was talking about?" asked Ben, leaning forward and putting his hands on his chin, and elbows on his knees.

"Well, whoever it is, can't be good." added Kevin leaning back in his chair "She was really freaked out."

"True, but where can she go now?" a muffled look of confusion crossed Kevin and Ben's faces as Gwen spoke.

_Where'd that come from?_ Ben thought to himself._ But she does have a point. I can't keep her here, mom and dad would kill me. We can't take her to Gwen's because of the power, and _certainly_ not Kevin's,_

"What about Julie?" asked Gwen, who had apparently been thinking about the same thing.

"That makes sense," answered Ben, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Julie was speed-dial number three. He held the phone up to his ear, and heard the rapid dialing beeps.

"What's she gonna' tell her parents?" asked Kevin, for some reason annoyed "A random person was in Ben's yard and has to stay with us?" added Kevin, mimicking Julies voice. He sucked at it, even though Ben was sure he wasn't trying.

"Hello?" Ben heard Julie answer on the other line.

"Hey, can you come over?" asked Ben, knowing she already knew it was him.

"Ben, it's like four in the morning." answered Julie, drowsy. He hadn't thought of that.

"It's an emergency, Julie. Your going to want to come over." he replied, knowing she would want to see it.

"Alright," Julie yawned "I'm on my way."

(Insert break)

"Hello," Julie meekly addressed Seryis.

Julie found this girl odd. Seryis was wearing a short sleeved black message tee covered in white specks saying "aim for the stars." She had on blue jeans, and tie-dyed, low top converse shoes. She had also put on the random rainbow colored, diagonal striped arm socks Gwen had left in the bag from when she used it on Halloween. She said she liked the way the felt. She was also wearing a crystal sun pendant, and had a white streak in her hair.

Ben had told Julie that Seryis had worn summer clothes, and somehow ended up in Gwen's front yard. Julie wasn't as surprised as she would have been a month ago. Being around Ben and the aliens had changed that. But this girl was _definitely_ abnormal

"Hey," answered Seryis, mildly enthusiastic. She had an aura about her, she was just bright and colorful. It was hard not to like her. But Julie was more than a little confused, and a little surprised at Ben.

Gwen was glaring at Kevin, who was leaning against the wall separating the kitchen from the living room. Kevin just smirked in response. Those two never stopped amusing Julie. Sometimes they were friends, and sometimes they were a couple in a fight. Now, based on previous observance, Kevin had done something stupid, and Gwen didn't think it was funny.

"So, what do you say?" asked Ben in his usual, charming way. That brought her, unwillingly back to the situation at hand. Julie could rarely say no to Ben, except when she knew he was wrong. Now she was hovering between screaming, saying yes, and saying no. She turned her gaze away from Ben and stared at the floor next to her chair.

This was going to be tough.

(Insert break)

For once in her life, Seryis felt safe. These kids around her, they felt powerful. Like they could defeat anything. She wasn't scared of who was after her, and she didn't know why. She sat back happily into the couch, and put a slight smile on her face.

The only thing that worried her was the dark haired girl, she learned was named Julie. She was wearing a white jacket and light pink pants. From the pictures on the fireplace mantle, she usually wore a pink tennis skirt. She had strong arm muscles, from playing tennis, as Seryis had come to find out.

She was different from the others. She wasn't weak, but she had a different power that made her strong. She worried Seryis because she seemed different in another way, but she was wasn't sure why.

The girl was pondering about taking Seryis to her house, and Seryis still couldn't figure out why she couldn't stay here. But, were she was didn't matter a lot to Seryis, just that _she_ couldn't get her. The smile slid off her face, and worry crept into her eyes. _She_had been after Seryis for a while, and she didn't want these kids to know about her.

_They would be safer that way_, she thought silently to herself.

(Insert break)

"So?" added Ben after several minutes of silence. _Why isn't Julie answering? Did I say something wrong?_ he thought panicking.

_What would you do? _Ben argued with himself, sarcastically. It was kind of irrational to ask Julie to take in Seryis for who knows how long.

"I'm okay with it," began Julie, side glancing at a newly perked up Seryis "but I'm not sure my parents will go for it." Seryis' smile faded. Then it came back, a little too fast.

"Can you try calling them?" this was the first time Ben had heard Seryis talk non-hysterical. She didn't have an accent, in fact she sounded kind of local. But he had never seen her around town anywhere, never heard of her either.

"Sure, but I don't see what good it'll do," answer Julie as she reached for her phone. She pulled her pink, non-flip out and began to dial. Ben glanced over to Seryis, and she had a strange look on her face. It was like she was happily concentrating on something. Twin lights came into her eyes, one circling each eye. Like someone had waved a flashlight in her face.

A startled look made it's way on to Ben's face, and he looked out side to see if a car had passed by. No such luck. He tried to tell himself it was just a trick of the light, but the thought kept nagging him as Julie talked to her parents.

"Wow, thanks mom. And Gwen can stay too?" Julie talked into her phone. Gwen had asked to come because her power was out.

"I'll be home soon, love you, bye." a surprised look was plastered all over Julie's face. She had clearly not expected that to work. Seryis smiled a little bigger, like she knew something. That seemed off to Ben.

"They can stay." Julie stated bluntly. Kevin seemed a little confused.

"Just like that?" any trace of a softer side in his deep voice was gone.

"Just like that. I told them Seryis was an exchange student, and her sponsor family couldn't take her. They said yes immediately. They didn't even ask where she was from. They just agreed." Julie looked severely confused.

That, coupled with the look on Seryis' face, began to really creep Ben out.

"I guess we were just lucky." Ben walked over to Julie, trying to reassure her. But he was reassuring himself more than he was Julie.

_Something is definitely up._ Thought Ben to himself.

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**yello! If you think the mystery of the girl is gone, your wrong entirely! The mystery has only begun...**


	4. New identities

I use alot of quotes form my friends and other souls around me. I replaced this chapter beacaus eI got one of the lines wrong and I had to fix it.

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"Pretty." Seryis stated as she observed Julies house. It was a nice cream, a little darker than in Ben's house. It had blue furniture, and it basically went in a circle. The stairs were at the middle and the rooms went around it. Seryis was waiting for Julie to come back from where ever she went. Seryis began to smile to herself.

She now knew everyone's name. She also new a little about them too. She knew that Kevin was older, and Ben and Gwen were exactly the same age. She knew they were about her age, give or take a few months. She knew that Julie lived with a sister, and her parents. She knew that Julie usually rode a scooter, but walked today.

But most importantly, she knew Julie didn't exactly trust her. Julie didn't seem to want to talk to her, and Seryis felt a little hurt. She decided she would make sure Julie knew she was a good person.

Suddenly, a girl who looked a lot like Julie slowly walked down the stairs.

_This must be her sister, _thought seryis to herself. Julie's sister had her long black hair up in two buns held up with chop sticks. She had left two sharply cut pieces of hair down to frame her face. She had a sharp face, but soft, big eyes. She was wearing a bright blue shirt, and black fingerless gloves.

She had ear buds in and was flipping through songs on her MP3 player. She smiled and slid the MP3 player into her front jeans pocket. She started humming the tune, and looked up. She looked a little surprised to see Seryis, but Seryis was used to surprise now.

Julie then suddenly walked into the room.

"I thought you were behind me," her tone had softened, it even seemed a bit happy.

_Yay!_ thought Seryis. She finally seemed to be trusting her. _But I have to quit doing that..._

"Oh, Carrie, this is Seryis. She's staying for a while." Carrie began to study Seryis, and concluded.

"Stay out of my room, and don't eat my Pringles." She told Seryis as she walked around the corner.

"...now he's a super-star, slammin' on his guitar..." Seryis could hear her loudly sing along to the song playing in her ears. She was pretty good.

"Charming isn't she?" began Julie as soon as her sister was out of ear shot, which was about four feet. You could hear the song out of her ear buds a couple feet away "I eat her Pringles all the time."

She followed Julie up the stairs her sister was just on, and into a hallway with four doors, two on each side. The wall on the far side had a window framed with blue curtains.

_Wow, these people sure like blue,_ though Seryis remembering the downstairs furniture. Julie turned to her.

"This is my room. she extended her arm and hand to the first door on the right.

"That's Carrie's." she switched arms and was pointing to the first on the left.

"Mom and dads is over there." she rotated her body a little, and raised her hand to the second door on the left. She put her arm down, and began to walk to the other door.

"This is yours." she said flatly as she turned the knob and opened the door. The room was, amazingly, decorated in blue. But it was nice, and stylish. The bed was a queen, with a silky bright blue comforter. The walls were cream with blue stencils of roses painted over it. Seryis liked the room, it had a pleasant feel to it. It was rather peaceful.

"Thanks for letting me stay here." Seryis turned to Julie as she spoke. Julie's face brightened into a smile, warm and sincere.

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"Don't mention it. You needed help. I wasn't about to turn you down." Julies smile turned to one of curiosity. She wanted to know more about where Seryis had come from.

"How'd you..." _What was I asking?_ Julies mind had gone blank in a matter of seconds "well, never mind." She walked back to the door, and shut it as she left.

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"So, who is she?" Ben was waiting in Gwen's living room for her to finish the forms and things on line. He'd been waiting in silence about a half an hour.

"Not done yet, but I've got a start." began Gwen, never taking her eyes off the screen, or stop typing "She's Seryis Greene, haven't decided where she's from yet. I'm thinking Canada..."

"What about giving her a more normal name, like Sarah?" prompted Ben.

"I'm not sure she would go for that. She seems pretty proud of her name." Gwen dejected that idea without braking her focus.

"Then give her a better last name, one that goes with the weirdness." Ben continued, leaning forwards in his armchair.

"What weirdness?" Ben hadn't heard the door open. He turned around in his chair to see Seryis and Julie, wet and shivering from the cold. Seryis was the one who had spoken.

"Um, well...the weirdness of your name." Ben meekly answered, adverting his green eyes. He glanced back quickly, and saw a confused look on Seryis's face. He sighed, clearly guilty.

"A little mean today, Ben?" Seryis countered, a hint of laughter in her voice. Seryis had broken the new person ice pretty soon. It had been about a week, and she seemed like an old friend already.

"You're name is a little different." added Julie, wringing out her short, black hair. Ben looked at her thankfully, coupling it with a smile. She was always there to back him up.

"You still made a mistake, Ben. Julie can't get you out of it by changing the conversation around." Stated Seryis as she peeled off her jacket.

Ben stifled a snicker. Seryis always had on the most abnormal clothes. She had on a rainbow tye-dyed shirt, and navy pants. She had on her signature tye-dyed converse shoes, and a new necklace. This one was a bronze colored peace sign on a chain.

"Gosh, Ben, I don't look _that_ weird." continued Seryis with a small laugh. Ben had tried to keep the emotion from his face. Apparently he had failed.

"Well, even if Ben said it rudely," Gwen glared mockingly at Ben "your name is a little different. Are you sure you don't have a last name?"

Just a Seryis got a thinking expression on her face Kevin slammed the door open, rattling the walls. He just casually strode in, the slam pointless.

"You brake my walls, and I'll brake your face."**(Quote by Megan!) **Gwen spoke calmly from her seat on the couch, still glued to the screen. Kevin just ignored her and strolled in.

"Seryis, anything?" Gwen asked lifting her gaze to Seryis, who was currently stareing at Kevin. Seryis jumped a little, then returned to her original, thinking gaze. She continued with this for a few moments.

"Mara can work. Seryis Mara. Does it sound right?" Seryis answered. It actually sounded pretty good to Ben.

"Sure." Gwen focused back on her computer, and began furiously typeing.

_So,_ Ben thought _She's Seryis Mara. _

_Welcome to high school, Seryis Mara._


	5. Sucks for Tim

1"Ben Tennyson." continued the teacher as she named off the list.

"Here." answered Ben, half asleep in his desk. He hated mornings. Even worse, he had math first period. _Math_, the most sleep inducing subject. But luckily, this teacher was a nice one, and she new how to make you stay awake.

"How is everyone? All sleepy after winter break I see. Well, I've got something important to say, so..." she reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled something out. Ben was to tired to pay attention to what it was.

Suddenly, a loud horn broke the sleepy fog in the room. Ben's eyes flew open, and he sat bolt upright in his desk. He realized she had one of those cans he didn't know the name of (that make a loud noise when you press a button) in her hand. Every previously awake student in the classroom, including Ben's soccer friends, started laughing uncontrollably. Ben soon joined in, and continued until the laughter died down.

"Well, now that I have your attention," began the teacher again, folding her hands on her desk "We are going to have a new student show up this period. She's a forgein exchange student from,"

She was cut off by the door opening. Ben had guessed who it was, and sure enough, in walked Seryis. She had on a tie-dye shirt, jeans with colorful paint splatters on them, and white arm socks with rainbow stars on them. A collective snicker was heard throughout the class. Ben felt suddenly defensive for his friend. She was a nice person, but she dressed oddly. That would make it tough for her in his school.

"Hi, I think this is where I"m supposed to be." Seryis had put a stop to the whispers and small laughs instantly. A little smile crept on Ben's face. Seryis had a way of silencing people when it suited her. Ben remember the last two weeks easily.

Seryis had easily become friends with everyone. She had charisma. She was hard_ not _to like. On Christmas she watched everyone do Christmas things with fascination gleaming in her eyes. Though she wasn't included, she seemed like she was learning about the holiday from the sidelines. Ben had felt a little bad for her, and she denounced that quickly. She had told Ben before he even asked, she was perfectly okay watching. Now she was close friends with the people in Ben's close circle, but she hadn't really met anyone else.

"Hello, your," the teacher glanced down at the attendance roster "uh, I think they got your name backwards. Your name's Mara, right?"

"No, It's not backwards. My name's Seryis. My parents liked abnormal names." the snickers began again. Seryis stared into the class, who seemed startled to know she could hear them.

"Hi." she addressed them all to silence.

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Everyone gathered their things to head home for the final bell. Ben had been a little worried that Seryis wouldn't be able to have a normal school day. At least not with the kids in _his_ class. The class mainly consisted of Ben's group of friends from soccer, the really girly girls who screamed over boy bands, the ramshackle group of girls who didn't really fit into a category, the hilarious spazz boys who were basically the class clowns, and the jerks who couldn't keep their mouths shut. The jerks didn't really do anything to Ben or any of the other guys, but they were really rude to the girls in the class.

Seryis had jumped in with the group of girls not really in any category. They included an emo artist girl, a tough softball girl, a quiet bookworm, and a girl no one really could fit into a category. Seryis had found something like herself in each of them. She was a talented artist, like the emo. She had shown that in social studies when they had to draw a picture of a president. She drew a flawless Andrew Jackson. She easily brought out the wild side in the bookworm, and she always enjoyed a good book. The non-category girl had liked her, and easily morphed into a friend. That was the girls subcontious talent. She was versatile.

"Class rule," Ben heard Tim from the other side of the class room, but he couldn't see him. Tim was terrible. Tim was rude, annoying, and he made fun of _everyone_. "Every girl has to kiss _me._"

Anger crept into Ben's eyes as he rolled them. _What poor girl is Tim scamming on this time?_ Ben thought to himself as the crowd of kids in the room thinned as their bell rang. Tim had the girl backed up against the wall, with a hand on either side of her head. It didn't take Ben long to figure out who the girl was. She was wearing starry arm socks.

He was about to go do something, when he saw Seryis's right arm come over to the left side of Tim's head, steering clear of his actual head. Ben was about to get insanely confused, but then he saw her hand clench to a fist. Tim was suddenly flung into the wall to the right of Seryis, with her arm punched into his neck. The softball girl, Kaitlynn was her name, and the emo girl, Megan, the bookworm, Layla, and the other girl, Rai, all began laughing_ very _hard. Seryis clearly shared the temper of Kaitlynn.

She also shared their sense of humor.


	6. Chimes

**Hola peoples! i know there's not many people reading this, but the one's that do, would it kill you to reveiw? Just once? I just wanna feel special. i want people to listen. R and R ****(duh) please**.

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"Ben Tennyson." Ben was jerked out of a deep sleep. He gasped, his eyes flying open. He found himself floating in a never-ending expanse of white. There was a woman in front of him, floating gracefully compared to his panic. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes and a burgundy dress trimmed with gold ribbon. The dress was a plain, long-sleeved, v-necked, and hooking on her middle finger. She had a gold chain belt, settling low on her hips. Her dress and hair were pushed back, as if she was in a wind. Ben stared at her in astonishment. She seemed so familiar, so...

"Ben." The woman chimed again. Her voice actually reminded Ben of chimes.

"Ben, you must be wary of those around you. Things can happen without command, and emotions rule. Keep a weather eye on what, and who's around you. Always think twice, Ben Tennyson. May that be your number one rule." The woman's voice of chimes, got weaker as she talked.

Ben opened his mouth to question her, but no sound came. A moment after he figured out he couldn't talk, the woman collapsed on to an invisible floor, like she was sobbing. She changed, and contorted to a new figure. This new figure was considerably smaller, had brown hair, and was wearing...

"Ben! I said Ben, wake up!" Ben flew up out of his seat, knocking his head into the seat in front of him. He could near the giggling of the two girls behind him, as he rubbed his head where a bruise was forming.

"Sleep well?" asked Seryis in a mocking tone as she set her arm on the back of Ben's seat. Today she was wearing regular blue jeans, a rainbow striped top, purple fish-net fingerless gloves, paint splattered converse shoes, and a rainbow polka dotted fedora. She had her hair back in a low ponytail, with the white streak hanging by her face. She had taken a hobbie, making necklaces, mainly pendants. The necklace today was a silver peace sign , with a yellow lightning bolt charm settling on top of it. The chain dipped down, setting the charms on the middle of her stomach.

"Weird dream, something about thinking?" Ben could barely remember the dream at all. It was a foggy memory in his head.

"You were thinking? I thought I smelled something burning..." **(Quote by Mr. Durbin!)**

"Ha ha, very funny Seryis. But seriously," Ben was cut off when the bus screeched to a halt.

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"Test time!" Ben hated how his math teacher was so peppy in the morning. Seryis was, however, amused. This was one of her favorite teachers.

"Where we sitting?" Megan asked Seryis.

"You could always sit by me,"" Jesse had randomly popped up behind Seryis, causing her to jump and emit a high pitched squeak. Seryis exchanged a glance with her friends, who all smirked as she did.

"Da na na na na na, na, na, na , na!" (The kung fu jingle)they all chimed in unison. **(quote by Megan!)** Ben smirked casually and leaned back in his seat. Inside joke.

"So seriously, where to sit?" Kaitlynn continued the conversation where it left off.

"Not much a choice now." Layla noted as she scanned the class room for empty seats. The only clump of seats left were against the right wall surrounded by Trevor (class genius,) Jacob (class clown,) Ethan (head spazz,) Melissa (prep,) and Chloe (class brit who _wasn't_ proud to be an American.)

Seryis's clump of friends moved to the five seats available. The seating set Seryis next to Trevor.

Seryis turned away from him to chat with her friends, not much a surprise to Ben. Trevor didn't really talk to Seryis, but he did talk to Megan and Layla. **(Take that you two!)**

"So, we all gonna fail?" Ben's friend Mark echoed what Ben's friends were all thinking. Mark wasn't the tallest guy out there, but he was great on defense.

"Did any of us study?" asked Ryan, the taller goalie of the soccer team. Ryan was usually happy, but was scary when he wasn't. Last week he had gotten into a fight with Ethan about the valentines dance. This had to do with Chloe (Ryan's girlfriend) and a rose. Ben smirked as he remembered the drama, and the repeating of the word no.

"Quiet." yelled the teacher signaling for them to begin. A hush fell over the crowd (**that's for Mr. A!**) as everyone flipped over their papers to begin the test half of them didn't study for.

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"Whoa, Trevor." Ben looked over to Trevor's paper, astonished to see the grade.

"I don't get it." Trevor sounded as astonished as anyone else. "I studied and everthing, but I just suddenly forgot everything." He brought a hand through his short red hair, as if none of it made any sense. It obviously didn't, and his papers never sported a red F in any circumstances. It did now.

"Remind me never to sit next to you during a test." **( Quote by Kaitlynn, you little rascal!) **Kaitlynn joked with Seryis. But something on Seryis's face as Kaitlynn joked made Ben oddly suspicious, and Ben couldn't figure out why.

_What ever,_ Ben though. _This day just sucked for Trevor. Has nothing to do with her._ Ben had gotten used to talking himself out of stupid sucpicion over Seryis.

She was just so different.

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**hey, if any of you ( if you actually exist) want to know why i keep putting the quotes in, here's why.**

**I love my friends. They are hilarious people, and i would kill for that commedic talent.**

**once again, r and r**


	7. A day of light, and lightbulbs

**This is a little mini-chapter I added because i think this needs a little, or alot of, padding. I based this off a science lab we had in class last week. It fits nicely in the story.**

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"Don't touch that you idiot, it's hot!" As Ben heard Seryis yell at him before smacking his hand away from the lightbulb, he really did think himself an idiot. Why touch a lightbulb that has been on for about an hour?

"Well," Jesse interjected from the next table over, a smug grin on his face. Ben knew exactly what he was about to say. Apparently so did Kaitlynn.

"Go find the deepest hole you can; fall in it and stay there 'till you die." **(Quote by the actual Kaitlynn)** Kaitlynn was clearly not amused by Jesse's antics, unlike most the males in the class (excluding Ben.)

"You know you wouldn't hurt me," Jesse countered, over dramatized the pout coupled with it.

"I would push you off a cliff for a fruit bar, and I hate fruit bars!"** (Quote by actual Layla)** Layla added her bit of Jesse bashing. _This boy just won't give up,_ Ben thought to himself as he rolled his eyes.

"Uh, ignore him. We have to finish this in ten minutes, or we have to ask Jo for his notes, and you all know that's a bad idea." Seryis added with a groan. As the girls shared a collective shudder for a reason unknown to Ben, he though Seryis had channeled a little Gwen into her voice.

Then Jesse muttered something under his breath Ben didn't catch. But, by the looks on the girls faces, Jesse had said something he would eventually regret. As Jesse smirked to Ethan, the flashlight he was holding began to flicker. Then, it began faintly sparking, reflected from the glass of the radiometer he was causing to spin. Suddenly, right in mid sentence, the flashlight burst as it's battery and bulb exploded. Jesse was flung out of his chair, and the kids at his table (Ethan, Melissa, and Jordan the class die-hard Jonas brothers fan) threw their hands in front of their faces to block the flash.

As the teacher ran to see what had happened, the class was plunged into a rare silence. This had really spooked them, and that wasn't easy to do. Not even a single snicker, or little comment in the least.

That _never_ happened.

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**I have a secret. I have a secret I'm going to tell you eventually. HA! I have the upper hand!**


	8. Need more Pickles

1"We need to make the project a skit." Seryis continued arguing with her friends. They were all at ben's house, working together on a social studies project

"Why can't we make something and talk about it?" Megan suggested, a little hostility or frustration in her voice. Ben could never tell the difference, but with Megan they were usually the same.

"Lets make it a regular poster." Ben was sure this was the best idea. It was simpler, and didn't involve acting. He leaned forwards in his chair casually, feeling a slight flicker of annoyance.

"It needs to be a PowerPoint." Layla stated her opinion, which was silently dismissed.

"Why am I on this with you guys again?" Ben asked growing less patient with the debate by the nanosecond.

"You volunteered, genius. You knew your friends couldn't do this and get an A if they tried. Which they never do..." Kaitlynn never really interacted with any of Ben's friends, and had a huge conflict with Ryan over something he said on the infamous Facebook thread. Ben grimaced as he remembered the many explosive conflicts that had erupted over things said on the thread.

"I think...ah!" Seryis jumped fully out of her chair, to join the jumping party of Megan and Rai. They were easily startled, even the school bell made them gasp. The source of today's jump was a loud crack from the corner of the room. Ben and Megan ran over to the corner, to investigate.

"It looks like a blown electrical socket." Megan stated as she observed the slightly charred place on the wall surrounding the hole with the plate cover and wires hanging out of it. The thing that scared Ben was the red, yellow, orange, green, blue and purple sparks flying out of the few disconnected wires.

_Weird...wait, why is it weird again? _Ben's mind went totally blank before he could finish the though.

_Oh well, I guess I'm just paranoid._ He slid out of the space between Megan and the wall, snapping the ream of sticky notes that were sticking out the top of her back pocket into his palm with a flick of the wrist.

"Ask next time!" Megan half yelled-half squeaked at him. He fast-walked to the kitchen to avoid any "Wtf, Ben?" comments from any of the girls. The slid open the drawer closest to the sink, snapping up a pen with practiced precision. He spoke aloud as he scribbled on a bright pink sticky note.

"Call Frank, electrcian. Need more Pickles..."


	9. Copper does what?

**I don't like this chapter at all, but i promised my cousin i'd put this in here. She made up the whole design for this chapter, so blame her if you hate it. I would like to add that what happens in the next chapter is not the big secret in the previous summary. That happens later, and it's is not the only climax. Trust me. Review! I crave your opinion and if you're reading review! I don't if it's not a good one, i just want more!**

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"Hey." Seryis addressed everyone as she walked through Ben's front door. Today she was wearing a rainbow striped shirt, jeans and white arm socks with black peace signs on them. She was also wearing a white fedora hat with colorful splotches on it.

"Happy Birthday!" Ben handed a small wrapped box to Seryis "It's from all of us." Seryis's face lit up, and she immediately started violently tearing at the paper.

"I always loved to do that." Kevin remarked from the other side of the room. He was leaning against the wall in his usual cool-guy way.

"Zip it." Seryis paused her violent shredding the colorful wrapping on the box. Gwen was _really_ticked off. Seryis was a little worried. She had never seen Gwen be seriously mad at Kevin.

"What I do?" Kevin usually didn't get defensive so fast. Seryis and Ben's eyes shot back to Gwen.

"You know what you did." The eyes shot back to Kevin.

"Oh, that." Eyes back on Gwen.

"Yeah." Back to Kevin.

"It was an accident." Back to Gwen.

"_Of course_." Kevin again.

"It actually was." Ben added to the conversation. Everyone whipped their heads over to Ben.

"Okay, I'm seriously out of the loop here." Seryis put down her arms, still holding her box the same way.

"I'd be better if you didn't know." Ben answered cheerfully.

_"Okay_, ripping time again!" Seryis went back to shredding the paper. She was having a very tough time getting to the box.

"How much tape did you use, Ben?" Gwen was suddenly cheerful.

"I'm not good at wrapping!" Ben replied holding his hands up.

"Wow, it's gorgeous!" Seryis was astonished at what she was holding. It was a beautiful bracelet. It was a flexible metal chain with rainbow colored jewels every half inch. It was a pretty bronze color, and it had a magnetic clasp.

"What is made of?" asked Seryis sounding marveled.

"Copper, but it's treated to not turn you skin green." answered Gwen sounding slightly proud.

_Copper, Copper, why does that feel wrong_? Seryis though to herself. She was sure not to let the thought appear on her face. She really did love the bracelet.

"Kevin helped?" Seryis asked mockingly, with a smirk.

"I threw in a twenty." He answered with a little smile.

"And he talked me out of buying you topaz earrings." added Gwen, a slick tone of laughter in her voice. Seryis's eyebrows flew up and the smile increased.

"The box was star-shaped, it would have to hard for Ben to wrap." Kevin always had some comment. Seryis smiled warmly in no one's direction but the floor.

It was great to have friends.

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**I'm thinking about changing the title, any suggestions?**


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